The shaping and finishing of glass or other materials is conventionally carried out by the operations referred to as grinding or diamond machining and subsequent polishing. It is often necessary, however, to flatten or reshape thin flat glass or other material of a thin, delicate construction. Figuring of glass thinner than 1 mm becomes impossible via grinding and traditional lap polishing as these processes scratch and break the glass under the typical applied forces of these techniques. The term “grinding” conventionally refers to the shaping of the glass surface by abrasives to a desired contour and polishing refers to the application of the finish to the surface. Polishing is usually effected mechanically, using a shaped tool known as a polishing lap. The polishing lap is normally rotated and works on the glass surface through the intermediary of inert fine solid particles suspended in a liquid supplied to the lap or to the glass surface so as to prevent direct contact between the lap and the glass surface.
Grinding and mechanical polishing are the operations which are conventionally used in converting glass articles into lenses for optical and ophthalmic purposes with a particular precise contour and polished finish. Thin delicate optics, however, are highly susceptible to breakage using such grinding and polishing methods.